14 May Five Steps to a Profitable and Enduring Brand

A few REP companies have found a way to stand apart with a unique brand identity. Has yours?

In a world where price dominates the discussion and a sea of providers and players flood the market how do you create a point of differentiation for your company in the eyes of prospects?

In a world where confusion and suspicion about REP providers continues and your current consumers spend little time thinking about their needs or their options how do you drive loyalty and retention?

In a world where REP pirates are trying to steal your customers every waking moment how do you establish a point of difference for your company? How do you give consumers a reason for loyalty? How do you stop the churn?

Brand value can be created in the REP world:

• The Great Divide – Some segments of consumers see the value of an energy provider beyond price.Attitudes towards personal & family well-being effect decisions made about products.

• Access to information is driving decisions – Smarter and better-informed consumers are trying to be well informed and careful about every purchase for their household.

• Customers will remain loyal if they are given a reason – Today’s marketplace allows companies to place a premium on products and services that combine high functionality with a simple end-user experience.

You must drive higher satisfaction, loyalty and retention:

• Start with insights about your core strategic target – Begin by identifying the customer(s) who are critical to enduring and profitable growth.

• Build a set of brand promises – Leverage insights about your customers and prospects to build promises that they perceive as believable, compelling and differentiated.

• Activate your brand at every customer touch point – Deliver on your brand promises at each and every intersection with customers and prospects. Build a company culture of “brand champions”.

Here are the five core steps that you and your entire organization must understand and execute. It is vital that the senior management team provide unequivocal cascading endorsement of this process:

Step#1. Identify your core target & gather insights about them

You must use these insights to create a vision of consumers unmet needs for today and tomorrow

Step #2. Construct your brand value proposition

You must create a set of promises that your customers and prospects will find believable, compelling and differentiated.

Step #3. Design and build your brand activation campaign

You must design a campaign that will actually deliver on each and every promise that you’ve made at every customer touch point possible.

Step #4. Launch your brand activation and measure the results

You must identify the success metrics to track your progress and put into place the measurement tools to track success (think: miles per hour is a metric and the speedometer is the measurement tool).

Step #5. Create a culture of “Brand Champions”

You must ensure that everyone across your organization as well your partners understands the brand “promises” and brings them to life every single day.